


Better

by Underling



Series: Split Prompts [4]
Category: Glass (2019), Split (2016)
Genre: Dinner, F/M, bad day, date, movies - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-26 18:17:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19011244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Underling/pseuds/Underling
Summary: Prompt: Casey had a bad day so Barry takes her out for dinner and to a movie. During the movie (horror) Casey is afraid and grabs for him but Dennis has come out. He reaches over and puts his hand on her thigh and stuff and they go back to the apartment.





	Better

**Author's Note:**

> Another prompt. Sorry, I haven't posted in a hot minute, life is... life. I also have a LOT of prompts that got sent in while I was amidst this time of life. So I'll get to everyone who has sent one in, either here or on Tumblr or on email, it just may take a bit to get them all written and posted. (Prompts for here and what they want to see in Three Years, so there's a bunch)

It had been a shit day. 

Actually, it had been a shit week, but that day had just been worse than the rest. The men at Casey’s job constantly treated her like she was less than them. Like she didn’t deserve to be there as much as they did. But she’d gone through the same process as they had. She deserved this job. 

“ _You’re nothing but a glorified secretary, Cooke_ ,” one of them had said at lunch. Casey had just wanted to eat her sandwich in peace. Even going out of her way to go to the break room that almost was never used. But they’d followed her. So they could tell her how worthless she was there. 

Casey stormed into the apartment she shared with Kevin and his alters, slamming the door behind her. A single look at the couch in the living room told her that Dennis was occupying the light then and she wasn’t in the mood for his broodiness. She crossed the room with a huff, barely glancing at the man as she passed. 

They kept their doors closed throughout the day, Casey did it mostly to keep Dennis from looking in and wrinkling his nose at her disarray. She threw the door open and slammed it shut as she stepped in. 

Casey kicked off her shoes and pulling off her work clothes. They’d costed her over a hundred dollars, just for the one outfit. Without counting her blazer or shoes. 

Clad in just her bra and panties, Casey threw herself onto her bed, face down. It was Friday, she wouldn’t have to even think of that outfit for two days. 

After days like this, Casey always felt drained, like the energy had been sucked out by the douchebags she surrounded herself with at work. It was almost five thirty. Casey was sore from her work heels. 

She turned her phone on silent and let her eyes drift shut.

…

Casey woke to the sound of her door being thrown open. 

She shot up, body rigid and automatically going into fight mode, eyes wild. 

Her door was swinging on its hinges, a figure covering the exit. It took a few seconds for Casey’s eyes to clear and for her mind to realize that it was just Barry standing there. 

“Fucking shit,” Casey snapped, tugging her blanket up over her chest subconsciously. She didn’t miss the way Barry grinned to himself. “What do you want, Barry?”

The man came and sat next to her, poking at her undereye bags. “Bad day?” he questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Casey rolled her eyes, plopping back down on the bed and pulling the pillow over her head. “Bad week,” she grumbled into the fabric of the pillowcase. She lifted it slightly, just enough to peek out with one eye to look at Barry. “I’m more than a glorified secretary, right?”

The eyebrow shot up even more. “What are you talking about, baby girl?” he questioned. Casey pulled the pillow over her face again, struggling with Barry when he grabbed it from her. She put up a good fight, but he won, tossing it to the bottom of the bed. “Did those bastards at work tell you that?”

Casey shrugged, purposefully not looking at Barry anymore. It was ridiculous that Casey was letting this get to her, but it did. She was so used to being told that she wasn’t good enough, that she was worthless. And it wasn’t like those guys knew what she’d been through with her uncle, no one really did. Only one body and 23 people. She constantly told herself that they only treated her like that because they were jealous of her. Jealous that she’d worked at the firm for only three months and was already on the boss’s good side. 

But it still hurt. 

Barry must have seen that she was getting caught up in her own mind because he reached out and took her hand. “Let’s go out,” he murmured, pulling her up into a sitting position. “We’ll get dinner and go see a movie. Let’s start this weekend on a good note, yeah? Get your mind off your absolute shit coworkers?”

Casey wondered if it would actually do any good to argue with him. But she had to admit that it sounded tempting. Barry always chose high-end restaurants and managed to pick movies that no one else really went to see at the same time as them. They got to be alone to make jokes about the poor writing or the crap acting. 

So, instead of arguing, she nodded, letting Barry pull her up and off the bed, walking her to her small closet. He turned her so that she couldn’t see what he was picking out. 

Barry dressed her like a life-sized doll, careful to lift her arms up only as far as would be comfortable to help the outfit slide over her body. 

When he walked her to the mirror, Casey frowned. “Barry,” she mumbled. “You know this dress is for the work party next month.”

Barry nodded from behind her, moving to tie up the back. “I know,” he agreed. “But I think it’s better for tonight. At least I will appreciate it. Those douche-nozzles at your job would only think it was for them. Like you’re showing off. I can appreciate true art in the way the designer pulled the fabric together. _And_ -” he turned her around again, facing him. “I can appreciate how it looks on my best friend. So shut up and wear it.”

Casey gazed up at him, a feeling of love in her stomach. She reached out to pull Barry into a hug, happy in the way his arms squeezed around her. It made her feel safe. 

“Now,” Barry stated after a few minutes. “I’m going to get dressed in our room and _you_ are going to pick out shoes that look good with that dress. I’m putting my faith in you, Cooke.”

He walked out her door as she laughed at him, shaking her head as he retreated with a hop in his step. 

Casey went to the side of her room where her shoes were. There weren’t many. A handful of sneakers, some flats, and a few randomly assorted heels. She knew Barry would only agree to her choice if it had a heel on it. 

She wondered what Barry would agree would look nice with her dress. The dress itself was black, made of Georgette fabric, flowing over her body. It hugged her waist and made it look like she had curves, though she didn’t believe he did. There was a long slit up her left leg, nearly exposing her. Thick tank top straps held the dress on her shoulders. A deep v-neck went down nearly to her belly button. 

It would be easy for her to just simply choose a pair of her black heels. It would go with the dress and she wouldn’t be out of her comfort zone. But Barry lived to push her out of her comfort zone, and if she walked out of her room with simple black heels, he’d just make her turn back around and change them.

Her eyes landed on a box in the corner. Barry had gifted it to her randomly, with no reason. He’d just walked into her room one day and handed it to her. She grabbed it, opening it up as she sat down on the bed. Inside, there was a pair of strappy red heels. Three inches tall, they would wrap around her calf. It would make her just slightly taller than the man. 

She sighed as she pulled them on, tying them up with careful efficiency. Once she knew they were done well, she carefully stood and walked out, grabbing her phone and going to the living room, shutting her door behind her. 

It was nearly another half hour before the other bedroom door opened. Casey was scrolling on her phone, barely glancing up when Barry walked out. 

“Good job,” Barry said and Casey could hear the proud tone in his voice. “Lovely shoes. I give my kudos to whomever bought them for you.”

Casey rolled her eyes, a common reaction to the different things Barry said. He reached out, helping her stand, a bit like a newborn doe on shaky legs. She noted that he was in a finely ironed dark suit, almost like Dennis had picked it out rather than Barry. But he wore it just like Barry always did. There was no mistaking this alter for the other. 

“I’ve already called a cab,” Barry told her, walking her to the door, her arm through his. “It’s waiting for us on the street.”

Casey let him lead her out their door, locking it behind himself. The elevator in their apartment building was broken down and they were on the fifth floor. Casey groaned as they began descending the stairs, Barry practically taking them two at a time. Casey knew would have tripped at the pace they were going had Barry not had a hold of her.

Just as Barry had said, there was a cab waiting for them as they exited the building. They climbed in - Barry opening the door and guiding Casey in first - and the cab began moving. 

A pop station was playing on the radio and Barry was bobbing his head to it, trying to get Casey to join him, though she only laughed softly and watched him. 

The restaurant they pulled up too was far to upscale for Casey’s taste. Something her boss would take his employees out to for a work dinner. The type of restaurant that didn’t list the prices on the menu because of how expensive they were. When they got out and the cab drove away, Casey turned and looked up at Barry with a raised eyebrow. 

“How expensive is this place?” she questioned, her voice giving a knowing note of almost annoyance. She knew that he wouldn’t let her pay, but she hated when they used their money on her. 

But Barry only shrugged, guiding her by the shoulders through the heavy doors of the building. Barry gave the hostess their name and she smiled widely at the man, barely giving Casey a second glance. Casey rolled her eyes at her. 

The booth they were sat at was near the back of the restaurant, where the lights were dimmer and there was barely another soul in sight. Barry helped her sit down first. He grinned at the hostess, a grin that Casey knew made many people’s - men and women - hearts thunder in their chests. The blush that covered her cheeks made Casey roll her eyes again, waiting until she was gone to speak. 

“You need to stop doing that to people,” she told the man, shaking her head at him.

Barry smiled innocently, picking up his menu. “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, baby girl.”

…

Their dinner went by both slowly and quickly at the same time. Barry ordered for Casey, telling her that he had better taste for the finer things and, in such, he should pick her food. “It only makes sense.”

Their server was a man, perhaps early forties, who cared about nothing but getting his job done and getting a good tip at the end. Every so often, Casey would catch glimpses of the hostess and other girls hovering around a corner, pointing at them - at Barry. Every time Barry caught Casey looking at them, he’d take her hand and kiss her knuckles, grinning like the Cheshire Cat when she’d blush and shake her head. 

...

To an outsider, they’d seem like a happy couple. Except, they weren’t. A couple, that is. They were happy with each other, but they weren’t together. Maybe someday they would be, but that wasn’t now. There’d been a few drunken nights, mornings waking up next to each other, hungover and naked. Barry would randomly kiss her when she got carried away in her mind. Dennis would leave hovering touches on her skin. There was that one night in the shower, but Dennis never spoke of it after it had happened. Casey couldn’t help but wonder if he was ashamed it had happened.

They weren’t a couple, but when Casey felt uncomfortable around the men at work, she’d mention what her ‘boyfriend’ and she had done that weekend. Barry would call her when a girl would hit on him, saying a happy, “Babe!” into the phone when she answered. 

When Dennis had picked her up from work one day last week when it was storming, she’d met him at the front desk of the building. A male coworker had followed her down, constantly asking if she’d go to dinner with him that weekend. He either couldn’t see how uncomfortable it was making her or just didn’t care. But Dennis did. Dennis noticed the way she was beginning to draw in on herself. The way her shoulders were tensing up and the way she dropped her head so that her hair was covering her face. 

She heard him before she saw him. Heard him call out, “Casey!” as he began walking to her. 

Her coworker had made a noise, almost a growl in his throat, and mutter, “Who’s this piece of shit?”

Casey was trying to come up with a response, something to make the man go away when Dennis finally reached her and laid a kiss on her lips. “Hey, honey,” he’d said. “Who’s this? A coworker?”

The other man had taken a step away from Casey, crossing his arms, taking in the protective way Dennis had positioned himself between them. “I’m Dennis,” he’d told him. “Casey’s boyfriend,” he reached out a hand.

The look on her coworker's face was priceless, reaching out with one hand to shake Dennis’s. The small look of pain that crossed his face showed that Dennis’s grip was too tight. 

When Dennis led her out of the building, opening up a large umbrella above them, an arm around Casey, she’d looked up at him. His eyes were just as stormy as the clouds above. “Thank you,” she’d whispered. 

Dennis had only shrugged slightly, but his throat worked for a few moments. 

When they’d made it back to the apartment, Dennis hovered near her for a few seconds longer than usual, eyes gazing down at her. Casey had opened her mouth to ask if everything was okay when Dennis had grabbed her and pushed her into the wall, leaning down to kiss her deeply. Casey had been taken by surprise, but it was easy for her to press into the touches. It only lasted a few fleeting seconds before Dennis was pulling away, breathing deeply as he continued to stare down at her. And then he’d swallowed again, shaking his head and dropping his hold on her, walking away and shutting the door to his room behind him.

They weren’t a couple, but they might as well have been.

…

Barry pulled her from her thoughts with a pointed cough, raising an eyebrow. The look he gave her said he knew what she’d been thinking of, but he didn’t mention it out loud. 

He threw down a handful of cash on the table and even without knowing the final bill amount, Casey knew that the amount he put down was far more than needed. He took her hand and lifted her from the table and guided her outside. The movie theatre was near the restaurant and Casey was almost happy to see that they were going to be walking.

Barry chose a horror movie when they reached the ticket booth, without letting Casey put in any input. If she had a choice, this would not be it. 

But Barry was ignoring the look of complaint on her face.

Like always, Barry managed to pick a movie with barely any people in the theatre. As they walked in, Casey noticed on one group of people in there. Two boys and two girls. It looked like a double date. They were sitting in the middle section of seats. Barry led her to the back row, shrouded in darkness.

The trailers were already playing as they sat down and Casey was already anticipated feeling frightened. She hoped Barry’s hand was ready for her strength.

As the movie started, Casey automatically shifted into Barry’s side, giving herself access to be able to turn her head into his neck if the movie got too scary. 

_Based on a True Story,/i >_

_“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Casey muttered, glaring over at the self-satisfied look on Barry’s face._

_He held a finger to his lips. “Shh, Casey,” he whispered. “The movie’s starting.”_

_Casey rolled her eyes, getting comfortable for the horror that was awaiting her on the big screen._

_…_

_One thing Casey hated the most about horror movies was jump scares. She didn’t think they had a place in movies. They were only there to add extra terror and Casey _hated_ them. _

_It was the third jump scare in the first half of the movie that really got her, though. The suspension had been building, the music making her heart stutter every few moments. Her breathing was getting quicker._

_Then the music hit with a jarring noise, a demon, or ghost, or monster, or _something_ horrifying popped on the screen. _

_The scream that came from Casey was almost inhuman, she grabbed Barry’s arm, nails surely biting into his skin, and buried her face in his neck. She was trying to get her breathing under control, taking in deep breaths of his cologne._

_She barely noticed the way his body shifted. The way he became almost rigid. His arms moving up to cross. Casey was too focused on the fear running its course throughout her._

_“ _Casey_ ,” the voice sounded almost strained and Casey pulled back. _

_Dennis seemed even more tense than normal, the veins in his throat sticking out. Rigid. She could tell by the way he was holding his jaw that his teeth were pressed tightly together._

_“Oh,” Casey said quickly, pulling her arm away. “Sorry,” she apologized, happy that it was dark in the theatre, he wouldn’t be able to see the blush on her cheeks._

_He wasn’t looking at her, taking deep breaths through his nose as he stared straight forward at the screen._

_Casey tried to watch the movie, but now she was acutely aware of two things._

_One: The movie was still playing and now she didn’t have a rock to hold onto._

_Two: Dennis was right next to her. And they hadn’t talked since the week before. Since the kiss._

_Another jump scare had Casey nearly leaping from her seat, a squeak falling from her lips. She squeezed her eyes shut, biting down on her bottom lip. Her hands were tight around the armrests._

_She felt something pulling at her fingers and she flinched, certain for a moment that the monsters on the screen had somehow come out into her real world._

_“Calm,” Dennis whispered and Casey realized what was grabbing at her hand. It was his._

_She let her eyes open, looking down and realizing he’d grabbed her hand with the hand that was farthest from her. Holding it across his body._

_Casey raised her eyes again, taking her own deep breaths again._

_…_

_Casey’s breath caught about twenty minutes later. She’d startled again because of another sudden scare, but that wasn’t what made her breath stop in her throat. Dennis had let go of her hand a few minutes before and now the one closest to her landed heavily on her thigh. Right where the slit of her dress stretched up._

_Casey bit her lip, trying not to notice._

_But then the hand moved up, only a little higher. Dennis was moving his thumb in slow circles on the sensitive skin of the inside of her thigh. Casey swallowed._

_“Dennis,” she whispered, looking over at him slowly. She didn’t understand. He hadn’t even talked to her in a week. He acted like they hadn’t done what they did that day in the shower._

_Dennis was staring back at her, those stormy eyes seeming to be looking straight into her soul. His body was turned just slightly, just barely facing her. He reached out with the hand that wasn’t on her thigh, gently moving a piece of hair that was falling over her face. And then it reached behind her and laid softly on the back of her neck._

_“Tell me to stop,” he whispered, breathing ghosting over her lips._

_Casey shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “Don’t stop. Please.”_

_She saw the way Dennis swallowed. Saw the way his eyes bounced back and forth between hers and her lips._

_Despite what seemed like inner turmoil in his eyes, Dennis pressed close suddenly, pulling Casey’s lips to his own. She reacted quickly, eyes closing as she kissed him back._

_The hand on her thigh slipped around and under her, pulling her over the armrest and onto his lap, deepening the kiss._

_Casey only pulled back when she had no air left, pressing her forehead to Dennis’s, inhaling and exhaling slowly. “Let’s go home,” he murmured, stroking her back slowly._

_Casey nodded quickly, climbing off his lap and beginning to move down the stairs. Dennis kept a hold of one of her hands, keeping her just close enough._

_When they walked out, the teenager at the ticket booth looked confused. It was the same one as when they’d come in and it was obvious that he knew the movie wasn’t over yet. But he didn't comment on it. Casey was sure the phrase, “I don’t get paid enough,” was bouncing through his head._

_It took a few tries to get a cab to stop, but when one did, Dennis opened the door and helped Casey in, barely giving the driver a chance to ask for their address before he was telling the man. Casey saw the way he lifted his eyebrow at them in the rearview mirror._

_Dennis kept a hand on her thigh as they drove, gently stroking up and down. It was driving her crazy._

_The drive wasn’t long, but it was too long. By the time they pulled up in front of their building, Casey felt like she was about to explode._

_And then Dennis toyed with her. He carefully counted out the money they owed the driver, adding a few extra dollars. He slowly opened the door, helping Casey out. And then he cautiously led her up the stairs to their floor._

_If Casey felt like her legs were shaky before, by the time they reached their door, Casey felt like an earthquake was rumbling through her. The only reason she was still standing was that Dennis had wrapped an arm around her waist to help her._

_And then he had to unlock the door. And he took so long._

_“Dennis,” Casey complained, staring at him. She didn’t miss the small chuckle that left his lips as he finally opened the door._

_Casey was almost surprised when Dennis walked her straight back to his room, a firm set to his body as he walked. He pointed at the bed when they walked in, closing the door behind them. Casey walked slowly to the bed and sat down at the edge of it, hands on her lap as she watched the man._

_“You really have no right to wear that dress,” Dennis said after a few moments, voice gravelly - even more so than usual. “You have no right wearing it around. Out in public where people can see you,” he walked a few steps closer to her. Casey stared up at him still, taking a deep breath._

_He stepped closer to her again, moving to fit himself between her legs. His hand reached out, trailing a finger from the base of her throat and then traveling down to where her dress started. Goosebumps gathered on her arms._

_And then he stepped back again, arms crossing over his chest. “Take off your shoes,” he told her slowly._

_Casey stared up at him, slightly confused, but she did as she was told, bending over and carefully undoing the straps of her heels, kicking them off when they were undone._

_When she was done, she looked up at him again, waiting for further instruction._

_“Stand,” he said quietly, watching as she did so. “Turn around.”_

_As Casey turned, she could feel him move closer to her again. Could feel the heat radiating from his body. Could feel his fingers deftly moving to untie the back of her dress. Felt him slowly taking the straps off her shoulders, pushing them down her arms. Allowing the dress to slip the rest of the way down her body._

_Dennis leaned down, pressing his lips to the skin on her shoulder for a moment, turning her around slowly._

_Dennis had long since seen her scars littering her body, but Casey unconsciously wrapped her arms around her torso._

_Dennis shook his head, gently reaching down and removing them. He lifted his hands up, beginning to undo his suit jacket, slipping it off his arms and laying it on the chair in his room. Then he began undoing the buttons of his undershirt, keeping eye contact with Casey as he did. When he slipped it off as well, he took her hand and placed it on some of his own scars, given to him long before by his mother._

_“Don’t hide,” he whispered, wrapping an arm around her then, pressing her against him in another passionate kiss. She could feel him unclasping her bra and helping her slide it off. Bare chest against bare chest._

_Casey barely noticed him walking her back, dipping her onto the bed. He pulled away and stared down at her, eyes traveling over her body before reaching down to slide her underwear down her legs, tossing them away._

_He leaned over her, kissing her gently again, before traveling down, layering kisses over her body, paying special attention to all the areas that were raised with scars. He kissed the inside of her thighs, watching the way she was beginning to squirm._

_Dennis lifted her just slightly, enough to bring her up on the bed, head resting on the pillows. Casey watched as he leaned back and undid his belt, unbuttoning his pants and sliding them down his legs._

_When he laid himself over her body, Casey pressed up to him. With every touch, she became more responsive. Until he was pressing at her entrance and Casey nodded quickly. “Please,” she whispered._

_…_

_Later, they lay next to each other, Casey’s head on Dennis’s chest, listening to the way his heart beat there. His hand was rubbing up and down her back, both of them silent._

_“I’m sorry,” Dennis whispered suddenly. Casey frowned, bringing her eyes up to look at him, confusion written all over her. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around this week. I just… after that kiss,” he swallowed. Casey knew he had trouble talking about his feelings, he always had, he probably always would. “I was just… I was so afraid of you rejecting me. Of you wanting nothing to do with me. I was… _terrified_ that you were going to see me as disgusting and wouldn’t want me to be near you. And I didn’t give you a choice on that kiss and that wasn’t fair to you. I wasn’t fair to you. I just… I saw that guy at your job,” his voice dropped and he took a deep breath. “And I heard him asking you out and I saw the way you looked. You looked so uncomfortable and almost scared of him and I just wanted to get you out of that position and I didn’t know what to do and I just… I said what came to mind first and that was to say that I was your boyfriend because I know that’s what Barry does for you and I just-”_

_He was rambling on and Casey didn’t want to cut him off, unsure if he would ever speak his mind like this again. “I know I’m not Barry and we aren’t like you two and I don’t even know if you care about me in the same way or even as much as you care about him but I could… I wouldn’t… I didn’t want him to make you feel like that,” he carried on. “And when I said that… when I said I was your boyfriend… I didn’t realize how it would make me feel and I just… I had to do something… so I-”_

_Casey finally knew he wasn’t going to work himself into circles and she leaned up to kiss him gently, effectively cutting him off. “The weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow,” she whispered, taking in the way Dennis looked at her, completely covered in confusion. “Let’s go out. We can go to the zoo or just walk around the park. There’s a cute cafe uptown that I’ve been dying to try out.”_

_The look of realization that came over Dennis’s face was like a breath of fresh air to Casey. “Okay,” he whispered, nodding slowly. “Okay.”_

_Casey smiled, kissing his chin. “I’ll see you in the morning,” she murmured. “We’ll make a date- a day out of it,” she blushed, casting her eyes down._

_Dennis chuckled. “We’ll make a date out of it,” he said back slowly, nodding his head at the sound of it._

_“Thank you for making my day better,” Casey murmured against his chest. She soon found it difficult to fall asleep, anticipation for the day to come hovering over her until a shroud of darkness covered her and she slipped into a deep slumber._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for taking the time to read this. I truly appreciate it.
> 
> If you have a prompt you'd like to see me write you can comment it here, send it in on Tumblr ( https://www.tumblr.com/blog/underaspark ), or email me (underling.1313@gmail.com)
> 
> Peace, love, and rainbows
> 
> Until next time <3


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